A Different Kind of Magic
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: I've always felt there was a missing scene between Remus and Tonks in the end of Half-Blood Prince that takes place somewhere between the argument in the hospital wing and the funeral. This is that scene. Remus/Tonks.


_**This is not really a Valentine's Day story...It's a love story though so I figured today was as good a day as any...Remus and Tonks are my favourite...Hope you enjoy.**_  
><em><span><strong>Disclaimer: Not mine.<br>**_

_**Spoilers: Half-Blood Prince**_

"Why did you do that?" Remus asked once they were alone together.

"Do what?" Tonks asked defiantly, even thought she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

"Bring that up," he told her, "in front of everyone, now?"

"They already knew," Tonks pointed out.

"But now," he said, "now isn't the time."

"Then when the hell is the time Remus?" she asked him her voice raised, "because I've been trying to have this conversation with you for months, and it never seems to be the right time."

"We're fighting a war," Remus reminded her.

"Really?" she said with biting sarcasm in her voice, "Don't you thing I noticed that?"

"That's not what I meant," Remus said, his voice even.

"Then what did you mean? Tonks asked him.

"There are other things going on," he said, "more-"

"Don't you dare say more important," she said her voice low and full of emotion, "don't you dare say it." Remus closed his mouth. "Because there's nothing more important, nothing. Dumbledore knew that. Lily and James knew that. They married during the first war. So did Molly and Arthur."

"They were right for each other," Remus said.

"So are we," said Tonks forcefully.

"None of them transformed into a monster once a month!" he replied, his voice raised slightly for the first time.

"Why are you so determined that being a werewolf means you can't be happy?" she asked him.

"Because the few times I was truly happy," he explained, "I got careless or reckless and it was only luck that stopped me from hurting someone. Do you have any idea how I would feel if something happened and I hurt you?"

"It hasn't seemed to bother you," Tonks said quietly.

Remus was brought up short. "What?" he asked her, "I never meant-"

"Of course you never meant it," she said, "but in trying to make yourself miserable you've been pushing me away, shutting me out, making me feel like I don't matter to you at all, and I don't think you have any idea how much that hurts." She could feel a lump rising in her throat, brought on by finally saying out loud the things she had been holding inside for months.

"Then why?" Remus asked because he could not think how else to respond. He was still processing Tonks' words.

"Because I love you!" she almost shouted at him, "because I love you more than anyone, love you in a way I did not even think was possible, and even though it hurts I can't give up on you, not when I know there's still some chance, however small, that you might love me too."

She looked at him fiercely, and he looked back at her. In that moment all his reasons for keeping his distance, for rejecting her advances, for being alone, all of them seemed strangely insignificant. He was seized by a strong desire to grab, pull her close, and never let go, but he didn't, he couldn't.

Her look of fierce determination faded, and she hung her head. "If you don't love me, if I've been wrong all this time, just tell me," she said, "and I won't bother you again."

He did not say a word. Inside him a battle raged between instinct and intellect, between heart and mind. He wanted to speak, he wanted to scream it for everyone to hear, but something held him back, that old hesitation born of so many years so social exile. He had not choice, but she did.

"I understand," she said quietly, turning away from him so he would not see the tears pooling in her eyes. Slowly she walked towards the door, and Remus watched her, understanding fully for the first time that he had not made her life any happier. She was just as unhappy as he was, and his heart broke knowing he was breaking hers.

"Wait," he said suddenly. She stopped, her hand on the door and turned to look at him, and he saw the tears in her eyes. "I do love you," he told her.

She looked at him for a moment, not daring to believe what she has heard. "What?" she whispered.

"I love you," he repeated.

Tonks took a few tentative steps back into the room. Remus walked forward and pulled her into his arms. She clung to him, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. Neither knew how long they stood there; it just felt so right standing there and knowing without a shadow of a doubt, that at least for a moment, they were not alone.

"Is this what you want?" Tonks asked looking at him.

"More than anything," Remus told her quietly.

"Then why did you fight me for so long?" she wondered aloud.

"Because I want you to be happy," he said, "and you deserve a prince, and I know I can't come close to giving you what you deserve."

"All I want," she told him, "is you. The big house, the fancy life style doesn't matter to me. As long as we're together, it will be okay."

"We're still fighting a war," Remus said, looking out at the now silent grounds.

"And we'll keep fighting," Tonks told him, " and eventually we will win, but until that day comes at least we have something the other side doesn't, something worth fighting for."

"Love," Remus said almost to himself.

"Exactly," Tonks replied. They were still standing very close.

Remus reached out and put one hand on her cheek and the other hand on her waist. Leaning in he closed what little distance remained between them as his lips found hers in a kiss that was so beautiful, so pure that for a moment nothing else in the world seemed real at all.

In that kiss there were a hundred different shared emotions: joy and sadness, relief and exhilaration, fear and hope. It communicated without words the lessons of the past and the expectations for the future, both wrapped in the blissful happiness of the present.

And in that kiss there was a magic far different than the kind created by wand or cauldron and far far more powerful.

_**I hope you liked it...I was not sure how to end it exactly... Please review!  
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